Woman attacked had sought court protection

RUBONIA — A woman who was stabbed Monday had recently sought legal protection from her assailant but had been denied a protection order.

The 72-year-old woman was stabbed twice by a relative just before 11 a.m. inside a home in the 1500 block of 71st Street East in Rubonia.

Carrie McMillan, 61, was arrested and charged with battery after stabbing the victim with a kitchen knife in the neck and near her ribs in the right side, said Randy Warren, a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

McMillan, who lives in the 7000 block of 11th Avenue East, reportedly fled the home after the attack.

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Louis Murrell, the victim’s brother, said a neighbor next door dialed 911 when they heard yelling.

Several minutes later, deputies found McMillan in the 900 block of 72nd Street Court East.

She remained incarcerated without bond at the Manatee County jail Monday night, and is scheduled to appear in court today.

Manatee Emergency Medical Services took the victim to Bayfront Medical Center to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries, the report states.

“She’s going to be alright,” Murrell said Monday evening. “They’re gonna keep her over night.”

The victim, one of seven siblings, and McMillan had not been getting along for a while, he said.

“It’s just something that’s been going on for some time. We never thought it would come to anything like this,” Murrell said. “I knew there was some animosity, but it hit me for a loop.”

Detectives are trying to determine what motivated the attack.

“At this time we are investigating what sparked the incident,” Warren said.

According to June 12 court papers, the victim filed a petition for a domestic violence injunction against McMillan, but it was denied by a judge.

Under the law, an injunction cannot be issued based on a future threat.

In her request, the victim said McMillan was a blood relative who had threatened her and had destroyed some of her personal property. The victim wrote that June 11, McMillan called her and threatened to kill her. She also wrote that McMillan parked her car in front of her home, repeatedly blew the car horn and told the victim she paid someone to kill her.

On June 12, Judge Marc Gilner denied her request for a domestic violence injunction. In his order, he wrote that “a verbal threat of future violence cannot provide the basis for issuance of an injunction absent evidence that the violence is imminent.”

Then, on June 28, the case was reopened when the victim filed another petition for a domestic violence injunction.

In that request, she said that McMillan calls her frequently and that she often has to leave her phone off the hook so she can rest.

On June 29, the court scheduled a hearing so Gilner could hear more evidence to determine if an injunction was necessary, court papers show.